Even Legends Die [Prologue]

Portals... The widespread phenomenon that swept across the Earth in the year 2047. Doors that served as a means to cross worlds for a wide array of monsters. Monster is a rather subjective term, but to humanity, the crossing of foreign species was nothing short of an upheaval. Monsters encompassed both passive and hostile creatures, but it isn't as though passive creatures weren't able to fight back in conflict or anything.

Monsters didn't only come from the portals, the changes in the world caused existing flora and fauna to adapt and evolve rapidly in new, unpredictable ways and even the most docile organism could suddenly gain the capacity to become crazed or lust tirelessly after blood.

Humans were no longer the apex predator and they struggled greatly to come to terms with this. The first illusion of security to shatter was reliance upon services like police or military aid, both public and private services were completely powerless. People came to realise that modern weaponry and empty official announcements and reassurances weren't of help. And so, the curtain rose upon despair as humanity continued to be slaughtered without refuge.

Naturally, humans that could adapt to the world began to appear like in other parts of nature but unlike other beings, they were unable to control the use of their newfound strengths or the mysterious new energy, 'Mana'. Most animals were able to control and utilise mana instinctively to varying degrees, but humans that relied heavily upon that which is already known and sought rigidity surrounding knowledge and the situation were unable to come to grips with it. Many attempted to conquer this power, however, in the pursuit of it, almost all were done in. They would self-destruct, lose themselves, go into comas or even just need to be hospitalised due to their awakenings. It started to look like humans were just not cut out to survive in this new world where mana and internal energies were sure means to tackle monsters and oppression.

As the human global population dropped into hundreds of millions during this long period of learning, humans that could utilise mana finally begun to appear. These evolved humans would be called "Superhumans" and they were able to adapt and guide other awakeners in usage of Mana and how to manage their bodies effectively. The Superhumans were only able to develop initially thanks to the god-sent system "80081E" which would later be known as "RED". RED was humanities herald for change and would allow them to make an effective stand against the monsters that were previously impossible to drive off. And so, humans entered a new era, one in which they were able to defeat many monsters, and make use of mana and monster nuclei to embellish life once more. And in this society, Superhumans became desirables and obtained great influence and wealth.

RED'S functionality wasn't limited only to mana control in the form of skills. It also displayed attributes, abilities, stats, statuses and all manner of things pertaining to one's physical condition and this resulted in the development of a rankings amongst evolved humans and the foundation of the "Superhuman Society" as well as the breakdown of their united front. While they would help each other out from time to time, terms and conditions, exchange of wealth and profit drove their decisions all over again.

Humans' foolishness always surpasses ones imagination and as it is said, if it sounds like it's too good to be true, it probably is. Mana was gradually integrated more and more into people's lifestyle, skills or magic began to replace technology and the world embraced mana as a cleaner, more efficient energy which replaced roughly 90% of the world's infrastructure and resulted in dependency upon the newfound miracle energy and it even got to the point where mana would be found amongst daily life in mana supplements and what not.

The Earth, which became richer and richer in mana, slowly became the perfect nesting grounds for monsters which needed less and less time to exit portals and flood out. At the time, it wasn't acknowledged that sending well-equipped superhumans to deal with monsters was but a fragile stopgap and monsters beyond humanity's limits would begin to trickle in years later...

Year 2060 - The Catastrophe hit. Portals, which humanity wasn't well-learned enough about, began to shimmer and above the continent of Eura, the first of several black portals to come, shattered, emptying multitudes of creatures directly into Eura's many countries. The most elite among elite monsters known to man rained down upon the people and down came true boss classes to each country; a Basilisk, Centaur, Serpent and a pair of Cyclops'.

As protocol of the 'Superhuman Society' which formed demanded, superhumans were dispatched in droves to lynch the newly descended bosses and scattered monsters. However, mere minutes after the numerous raid parties engaged, the battles were over. Absolute massacre ensued, with barely any superhumans surviving.

Superhuman Survival Rate: 3%

Boss Monsters Defeated: 0/4

Elite Monsters Slain: 400

Humanity once again faced a major hurdle. Losing several dozen top superhumans showed them once again that they were no longer the crux of the pyramid known as the food chain. They instinctively understood. Rather, they were made to understand that these monsters weren't something human effort alone could overcome and upon unanimous agreement from all but Eura. The continent and its now dwindling populace was completely abandoned.

Nature ran it's course and in less than 5 years, similarly, the rest of the world faced catastrophes by region and country and the global population plummeted from hundreds of millions to hundreds of thousands and humans became the hunted. Law and Order completely collapsed and there was no visible path to recovery...

?????'s Den

There in the middle of a red-brown room, a young man laid on the floor, his arms behind his head and looking up. The man was currently deep in thought regarding what he would or should do next. And in doing so, he found himself reminiscing.

He was alone. To his right laid a red wooden greatsword, almost as long as him. It wasn't red because it was some special type of wood or some special reason. This particular sword was absolutely drenched and visible signs of wear and tear were obviously visible from the fractures and splintering running along its length. From the room and the sword, one could probably decipher what had transpired. He in fact hadn't been painting with his sword... The shades of red and brown all over the place originated from fresher and older bloodstains respectively.

On his left was a circular void, with a futuristic control panel sat just in front of it, from which he could see all of the planet Earth. By the planet, he didn't mean some telescopic view of Earth or a poster, nor was it anything lofty. It was just a hole, a chasm, from which he could see anything on Earth. Anything from following a single insect to viewing everything happening in a whole continent simultaneously was possible. And the reason for this gaping hole was that he was now in the supervisor's room for 'his' Earth. He learnt of the existences of other Earth's and planets which had inhabiting species. The prospect of a new world did interest him, however, he had no desire to be mixed up in anything else. Especially if that something was both unrelated and detrimental to him. And so, he continued to ponder until he drifted off to sleep in that lonely expanse of red he called a room.

As he slept, he dreamt for the first time in over a century, and lucidly at that. He dreamt, starting from his unrivalled childhood, which seemed so long ago now. Where he had everything he could've wanted under his loving family's wing. Then, his beautiful girlfriend who passed away after bearing his child in their adolescent years. Her unfortunate death that had brought about his awakening. He dreamt of the apple of his eye, Eden, with her naturally long and curly, light brown hair and her radiant smile. And then the pain of losing her struck once more, perhaps harder than before, as he could no longer even recall his own name or even the faces of the many he cared for. And worst of all was even as he dreamt, he was completely powerless to change that fact and the past, despite the strength he had obtained until now. His one and only daughter, whom he valued above the entire planet.

His dream then shifted towards his memories of becoming the top superhuman after repelling the catastrophes and how he went on to quell the onslaught of TRUE monsters, incomparable to those that descended on Earth, on his journey to eradicate the supervisor and regain control of Earth.

As his dream began to fade to black and he started to wake up, his mind briefly flashed back to his time spent living as a human, before superhumans came to exist. How he was unrivalled in all he took up, whether it was a hobby, or pertained to the body or matters of the mind. When he gave it his all, awards followed him and oftentimes he would usurp leading roles in those departments. From chemistry down to sports science, from a young age he swam in success. In a normal world where awakened didn't exist, death wasn't commonplace and people didn't fight to live.

As he jolted awake, the long dream he had began to rapidly dissipate and he shed a tear for the first time in an age. He entered this supervisor's domain at the age of 34, and while his body hadn't aged a single second since then, his memory had become that of a more and more distant past and he must've been at least a hundred and fifty had time flowed normally in here. As the man zeroed in on thoughts of his daughter once more, unwilling to forget any more about her, he tried to remember his name.

This nostalgic dream had however helped him come to a decision. He had decided to return to Earth as the human he was when first evolved and to live in recluse until he naturally died. To do this however, he would have to separate a shard of his soul. This was because this room was made only for the true supervisor, or manager of that planet. A god that was assigned to watch over Earth from here. Of course, to separate or split one's soul would normally mean to die. However, with the authority, "Love Brings us Together", he obtained from supervisor "Cupid", and his large mana volume, there shouldn't be a risk to his soul's safety as long as he took precautionary measures. He needed to be forgotten by this domain he was trapped in at the moment and be accepted into Earth again. This process was obviously a first, and the risks were clear. He would need to push himself to the extreme, as his control would unravel as he lost more and more of his mana and soul strength.

He would eradicate all foreign materials to Earth at once. Mana, Summons, Monsters, even illegal evolutionary traits and the creatures which had turned. He would do this with the largest piece of his soul he would be leaving behind once he had stably returned to the planet. He proceeded to prepare by condensing his mana into batteries to make up for the lack of control that would ensue at the end of the process with a magic circle. While the entire infrastructure of Earth that had developed would collapse, it was better than leaving creatures which superhumans couldn't handle roaming around. The man would no longer be able to interact with that world with no strength. Honestly speaking, humans wouldn't learn from their mistakes or suddenly learn to take a hint. It would be for the best that he ends that nightmare by throwing them into a dark age once. It wasn't like he would be held responsible, he was only known as the one who ended the calamity and his name had no fame attached to it.

The secret to his overwhelming strength was he wasn't reliant upon the system, RED, which aided human adaptation to the world humans seemingly weren't welcome in any longer. From mana collection to usage, from stats to skills, he never touched the system and considered it poison to growth. And so, the system and him never interacted, aside from RED's one-sided interjections to give him names of portal domains he entered and entities he encountered, an interdimensional encyclopedia of sorts.

He set out a dozen mana batteries, placing them in a perfect, regular dodecagon with a metre between 2 adjacent batteries. He then pulled 80081E up properly for the first time and looked for his default stats, scrolling through to find out how much power he would need to expel.

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Name: Lear Night [1 Rename Available, Authority Will Be Partially Consumed]

Level: 1

Physical & Mental Disposition -

Ability: Error $#/15 [Exceeds Base Stats Available]

Active Potential: Error [Surpassed 100%]

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Age: 34 [+273]

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Yang Affliction: 27%

Yin Affliction: 73%

[Rapid Fluctuations Detected]

Zodiac Affinity: 130/600

Zodiac Sign: Leo [August]

Status: Tired [Fatigued ?]

Ailments: None

Fatigue: 20%

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Quests -

Beginner Quests [959/1000 Completed]{Click Here to Claim All}

Intermediate Quests [712/1700 Completed]{Click Here to Claim All}

Advanced Quests [3/2999 Completed]{Click Here to Claim All}

Achievements Obtained [749 Collected]{Click to Collect Rewards}

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Glancing through, he realised he was stuck in a limbo where his stats were already inconceivable errors to the system from the start. Since he didn't make use of RED, he had never properly taken the time to look at his status window or quest window. On the plus side, he was able to reacquire his name so he was quite pleased. It truly meant a lot to him, and he felt as though he had recovered a sense of identity.

Resolved once more, Lear prepared to draw the mana circuit aid to perform this insane operation. He nicked his brachial artery precisely above his elbow with his mana infused fingernail in order to maximise blood pressure and elongate the time the blood would gush to draw the magic circuit encircled by the batteries. After a painstaking process of repeating this bloodletting from his arms and even radial arteries, 7 minutes later he had wrung out enough blood to begin.

Sitting cross legged in the centre of the now-patterned floor, he pulled his mana deep into himself. The mana he scattered around the room, the mana he stored in his two mana libraries situated in each lung. He reeled it all in further and further. He then proceeded to shape the mana to the shape of his soul and pulled apart a carefully calculated portion of his soul to return with his body, activating the magic circle at once. By doing this, the magic circle aid was able to detect when he returned to Earth and use the largest part of his soul he was leaving behind to execute the command he left to eradicate monsters and mana from Earth using the control panel. Theoretically at least..

Quickly, he turned his attention to returning to Earth and calculating the best way back. At this point, his physical and spiritual body were burning up. The pain of separating his soul was intense, and expelling his strength with his soul caused rifts to begin ripping away at the conscious part of his soul and mind.

Within the space of a minute, the calculations were done and he immediately initiated his dive back to Earth.

As he endured the rising sensations of drowning and asphyxiation, he continued to plummet. No matter how prepared he may have been, there are things one can't predict no matter what. The power and portion of his soul he had left in the supervisor's abode began to resonate with him once more and as he dove deeper, the resonance heightened.

A deafening series of CRASHES boomed towards him, even in the vacuum he was enduring through. He didn't want to believe it but he felt a familiar sensation as his powers got closer, BOOMing behind him. In mere moments, the power he had left behind, bound by mana and instructions, had effortlessly caught up to him.

The next second, he saw a truly ghastly apparition in front of him. He was face to face with what he thought he had left behind, but it now took on a deep black colour. So dark that even in the dark, he saw an absence of light where his soul slowly spread its form, staring back at him with dim, green menacing eyes. As he looked at the miasma that was now holding him suspended, unable to breathe and slowly snaking mana around him, he looked to escape but as he was, there was no way he could fight against that supreme ability he had as a superhuman. The black tendrils looped around him over and over, coagulating and melding together. It quickly engulfed his body, suffocating him and pressing harder and harder against him, looking to reenter his body.

He vaguely felt that he was bleeding, not only from the cavities of his body in his nose, ears and eyes, but even his pores were oozing blood due to the pressure he was experiencing. The viscosity was not to be taken lightly and the only things racing through Lear's mind was absolute horror, and then acceptance as he lost touch with all his senses. His intuition told him there was nothing left he could do

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